Liz Dudek: Help exists for medically needy children

December 5, 2012|By Liz Dudek

The state believes strongly that individuals, especially Florida's most medically fragile and medically complex children, deserve to be cared for in the least restrictive setting that can best serve their medical needs.

In recent months, there has been an abundance of misinformation about the availability of Medicaid services for children. Here are the facts:

All medically necessary services are available to children enrolled in the Medicaid program.

Children can receive medically necessary services in their homes in unlimited amount and duration up to 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Most Medicaid children in Florida who regularly receive nursing services receive them at home.

The Agency is committed to working with our partner agencies, advocacy groups, parents, and anyone else who is interested in making Florida's system the gold standard. Since concern about availability of services was brought to our attention, the Agency has contacted parents, advocates and other stakeholders.

The Agency called the parents of children who currently reside in skilled nursing facilities in Florida. The state outreach overwhelmingly found parents are satisfied with their child's services and location of services.

The notion is circulating that parents aren't able to secure the medically necessary services their child requires. I encourage those parents to contact the Agency so we can assist them. We want to speak with anyone who has this concern.

Despite the allegations, Florida is already in full compliance with all laws relating to the provision of Medicaid services. Regardless, we continue to make improvements because we strive to be the national model.

We demonstrated this by outlining current processes, steps already taken by the state and steps the state is currently planning to take in our recent reply to the U.S. Department of Justice. The allegations are totally inaccurate.

The bottom line is simple: Florida cares about kids. We provide every medically necessary service and we are in compliance with the law.

Liz Dudek is Secretary for the Agency for Health Care Administration in Tallahassee.